Chelsea will return ‘in next few days’ with ‘new proposal’ to sign defender – Tuchel’s ‘favourite’

If you’ve been paying any kind of attention to Chelsea’s transfer window so far, you’ll be aware that Matthijs de Ligt is a target for the Blues.

Having lost both Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen to Real Madrid and (very likely) Barcelona respectively, Thomas Tuchel needs replacements for the pair, but none have come in to date.

That’s partly due to the ownership situation, which has since been resolved, and Todd Boehly is now ready to kickstart his new club’s transfer window.

One of the names highlighted by the German manager has been that of De Ligt, and a first offer of €40m + either Timo Werner or Christian Pulisic was put forward, which was quickly turned down by Juventus.

That means they will need to come up with something better, far closer to the €120m release clause currently in the Dutchman’s contract, which is what the Serie A side would like.

Gazzetta dello Sport on Thursday make the whole situation very clear, claiming that Chelsea will ‘return to the attack’ in ‘the next few days’ for De Ligt.

It’s said a ‘new proposal’ is on the way, although the Blues are also looking at ‘alternative routes’, with Kalidou Koulibaly mentioned, whom Juventus also see as the ‘perfect substitute’ for their current player.

That being said, De Ligt ‘remains the favourite of Tuchel’, meaning that they will first and foremost target the ex-Ajax starlet, and therefore only go after alternatives once they’ve exhausted all possible avenues.